Tuscan Igloo

The sign outside this shop says “Idee per la casa” and means ideas for the house. This winter the Tuscan sun is not so warm, but we are not going to live in igloos for a while yet...

Happy New Year to everyone!

Forlorn Grand Duke

This is a monument to Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, by the Livornese sculptor Paolo Emilio Demi (1798-1863). The statue was damaged in the riots of 1849, kept in storage for about a century and then placed in “Piazza XX Settembre” in the years after the Second World War. Today it is sadly seen among the decrepit stalls of the “Mercatino Americano” (American Market), soon to be trasferred inside the area of the port.

Versione italiana

Silent Night

I took this photo few days ago from a bridge on the “Fosso Reale”, I liked the shot, but it has been somewhat left behind.
It was just before the holidays and everything was eerily calm in a not so quiet part of a not so quiet city. I liked that moment though it lasted only until the next scooter speeding down the street.

Attack of the Climbing Santas

A platoon of climbing Santas is storming this apartment in the city center. They are terribly late...
If you click and enlarge the photo you can count up to 19 Santas of different sizes, but probably more are hiding behind the parapet!

Toilet of Pisa

A trio of fancy portable toilets in “Via San Giovanni”. We can see the “Clock Tower of Westminster” for London on the left and the “Mona Lisa” for Paris on the right, with the middle toilet still showing the unmistakable remains of a “Leaning Tower of Pisa”. One could wonder at the wisdom of putting any Pisan iconography on a toilet in Livorno, due to the long-standing rivalry between the cities.

Versione italiana

Cavallotti Square

“Piazza Cavallotti” is our main open air market for fruits and vegetables, where vendors holler here and there offering their produce for the best price in town.
Here, in a building now replaced by more recent one, the composer Pietro Mascagni was born in 1863.

See also: Mascagni vs Puccini

Teddy Bear Wears a Bra

You can see this funny window display in a shop in “Via Grande”, which is literally Broad Street, the main street of Livorno.

Christmas Tree

“Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents”

(Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)

This is my first post and this is my Christmas Tree. Vogon Poet, shame on him, has no Christmas Tree to show you!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Trees in two squares of Livorno. Neither one is too nice, so I posted both: quantity over quality...
Merry Christmas and... “Buon Natale”!

Versione italiana

Inside the Pentagon

This is not a photo of mine: it is taken from Google Maps just to show you that what I am saying in the title is true.
The “Pentagono del Buontalenti” (Pentagon of the Buontalenti) is delimited by the “Fosso Reale” (Royal Canal) as a former defensive structure by the architect and military engineer Bernardo Buontalenti (1536-1608).As you can see from my first post I live close the Central Market, which is at the half of the southeastern side of the Pentagon. In the middle of this picture you can see a white squared building: that is where I work.
So, I live and work inside the Pentagon...

See also: Mercato Centrale
External links: Bernardo Buontalenti (Wikipedia)

Versione italiana

Edison Bookstore

This bookstore has opened about a week ago: it's huge, central and open till midnight. It has a bar, but not so many books: anyway a nice thing to have a block from home!

Versione italiana

Inflatable Snowman

A giant inflatable snowman outside a cellphone shop... and (as JT says) a Vespa P200E!

Versione italiana

Mercato Centrale

This is my first post, so the image must be significant: this is the “Mercato Centrale” (Central Market) on the “Scali Saffi”. “Scali” means something like “landings” and it is a kind of street quite common in Livorno because a local canal called “fosso” (in origin a moat) runs along one of the sides. You can see several leisure boats moored alongside the wall of the “fosso” and also the arched entrance at sea level where provisions were delivered by barges. What is so peculiar about this photo? The simple answer is that I live nearby.

Versione italiana